How tiresome so see the same coterie of wet behind the ears Leftist bloggers-activists-shills-pundits parade their broken hearts on Hardball, Shuster, Rachel Maddow, Cooper, etc., etc. Oh, to have a crush cruelly stomped on so soon. ‘He’s just not the same guy who sat next to us in art class !” Can you feel their pain?
Naturally, these wounded souls carefully parse their words with carve outs, equivocations with — well — Clintonian precision. Who can blame them? They may be crying on the inside. But hey, they finally made it to the green room! And who knew that in all those years of near libeling Joe Klein he actually tells killer George Stephanopoulos jokes? Joe’s not so bad, really. And did you hear what he said about Meacham? Got to stay in the rolodex now!
But still. The sorrow on camera is all in the eyes. Please pass the chocolates.
Don’t get us wrong, Dear Reader. We, too, are underwhelmed at the Boy King’s cavalcade of mediocre establishment weenies. The plus side? They aren’t simply Republican puppets dangling on the Movement’s strings chasing a malevolent agenda. For us, that’s change we can embrace — with thanks.
But for those gnashing teeth and pulling hair at the FlamingParakeetPuddles.coms of the universe (who somehow think 3 or 4 years of blogging make them persons of *substance* — and know the Stiftung not infrequently agrees with those blogging at these places), et al. face the facts: you were and remain still in many ways neophytes and Not Ready For Primetime Against The Fallen Movement (MSNBCNN greenrooms aside). Or even primetime against permanent government inertia. Much less dare we say it Chicago pros?
A crush is precisely that: an immature infatuation. In the obscene rush to deify a two year U.S. Senator with scant achievement other than let’s call it for what it is — ambition — they shoveled all sorts of absurdities onto the political compost heap; he is Lincoln; no, wait, he is Kennedy without the pro-Nazi father thing; but with the economy, he’s FDR except he’s trying to quit smoking (would someone just tell Jonathan Alter to STFU about his book?).
The Progressives and Left in general do not know how to organize still. Tossing out the Warlord in these circumstances is not a heroic trial of fire. What they did not grok and are only belatedly realizing is that they were used. They gave adoration. They gave of themselves. They gave money and hope. All of which means squat November 5th.
They did not lock the Boy King in. This is political 101 that Morton Blackwell used to teach college cadres. Consider Grover, for example. Those tax pledges may seem so many pieces of ink jet piffle to the Left, but they assume powerful tectonic political *fact*. One could go on. What precisely did the Left and Progressives do to concretize an agenda and wedge the Boy King? Nada. How . . . frappuccino.
Amusingly, Pat Buchanan remains still far more interesting than the whiny Left. (Please God spare us from four years of David Corn or Peter Beinart as the Go To guys for MSNBCNN; can’t producers get with the whole change thing and expand their rolodexes? To that extent we do welcome the newly ‘discovered’ blogger-activist voices). As you probably know, Pat advances the theory that the milquetoasts, lobbyists and right of center apparatchiks around the Boy King are mere smokescreen. They, in Pat’s view, provide the ‘establishmentarian’ facade enabling the Boy King behind the scenes to channel Saul Alinsky.
Odd how Pat is probably the Left and Progressives’ best hope right now albeit for different agenda purposes. We all revel in the Movement’s overthrow and disarray. But one just has a desire to reach through the screen (computer and HiDef TV) and smack the Left and Progressives silly. Grow up. You climbed in the sandbox to play for the highest stakes. It’s a little late to whine you forgot to bring toys.
Anon says
OT – Who/what is middlebrow? IMO David McCullogh and Ron Chernow are first rate writers and far more impressive than most credentialed academics. Doris is also good, but she merits an asterisk for her past failure to attribute.
Anyway – we were amused to see this NY Times Maureen Dowd imitator condescend and refer to those guys above as middlebrow. There are multiple ironies at work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/books/review/Heffernan-t.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=Sarah%20Vowell&st=cse
Dr Leo Strauss says
Valid points all. Maybe Obama will in fact surprise and govern from an energized and cohesive progressive/left framework. We share the disappointment expressed by some. Our pov is that technical competence — while vital, post-Warlord — is a necessary but insufficient component of restoration. A center/competence (Dukakis Lite) administration if limited to that will arrest the Warlord-induced decay but not segue to a potential rebirth and re-imagining of the American idea. Moreover, center/competence will give a tactical pause and allow the always febrile Movement to re-organize for revanchism.
The post here simply expresses exasperation at those who rushed to adorn the Boy King with *hope* without remembering the governance part and the political mechanics of concretizing agenda priorities *before* the nomination.
We consistently have saluted the netroots for the courage in standing up to the CSA regime when no one else did, both here and at STSOZ 1.0. We continue to agree with much of what is discussed on the major netroots nodes.
But anyone who calls Daschle the nation’s foremost expert on health care because of the millions he has made lobbying for Big Pharma gives any objective viewer legitimate reason to pause. And that is only one of many.
Again, nothing would please the Stiftung more than to be wrong on this. And we will trumpet it loudly and with relief should that day come.
Comment says
One thing Obama “gets” is the high level of emotionalism on the right and how important it is not to hurt their feelings and to always let them save face. The GOP has become the party of feelings – somewhat ironically because the want (feel) to be the tough macho party.
Sure the left is upset that Obama has this celeb winger preacher giving the invocation. Why? No one really cares what the left thinks about such things. The ‘left’ is just too small for anyone to care.
A Random Quote says
“U.S. troops are in Iraq for security and to search for WMD. They are not there to enforce Bremer’s personal vendettas. Bremer is out of control. Bremer is using U.S. troops for political purposes.”
~Michael Rubin
NY Sun, 5/21/04
(Commenting on things in general, the Chalabi raid in particular, and Bremer’s denial of advanced knowledge of the raid on Chalabi despite NY Sun assertions suggesting otherwise)
A Random Quote says
“As far as I know, the CPA has not arrested a single individual responsible for acts on Americans. And they managed to find the resources to go after the INC. I think this is appalling, a disgrace.”
~Richard Perle
NY Sun, 5/21/2004
Comment says
NB – also Pat really thinks of ‘left’ mostly in cultural terms – In a sense, Pat sees Obama as ‘left’ just for being who he is and attracting hip youth and conveying a multi-culti vibe. But most of the USA has moved beyond that. IBM multi-culti ads in 1990 used to get attention, but now that’s all normal. Pat could care less if Obama delays tax increases. What bothers Pat is how Obama normalizes blackness and race mixing and undermines the concept of ‘whiteness’ being linked with the idea of the west.
It would be great to see Pat dance with Michelle Obama.
Comment says
You who deserves a pardon or a clemency? That guy who worked for Bush who was stealing from department stores. He was obviously mentally ill on some level – Do you know the guy? He was a top Bush aide – an African American – He is often still showing on the msnbc B roll walking into the WH with Bush after getting out of Marine One. That guy did not need to steal – He obviously had some disorder. Bush should get him mercy, but Bush is more likely to give Libby a pardon for reasons of self interest.
We think Black’s best shot is by asking Tony Blair to lobby for him as payback for spreading pro war lies in the Telegraph. Bush might by that.
Comment says
re Pat’s covert Alinsky theory – we think he is wrong about that – We always thought Obama was far more middle of the road than his haters or worshippers thought – It is very clear from his writings and from what his friends say that Obama is someone who was familiar with ‘the left’ -broadly speaking – and rejected its tenets and its ethos in much the same manner that someone growing up in a very relgious home with a lot of assumptions might become apostate or change religions or become secular.
But Pat is someone who worries about contamination and he really does not care much for capitalism himself.
However – Pat will be partly vindicates in the sense that Obama will use conservative personages to pursue some propgressive aims.
Pat is correct not to be heartned by the banal whining of the left over Rick Warren giving some invocation. Obama is collect chits and using Warren for image
Anon says
Frum calls pardoning Conrad Black!
http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OGVlNTYzZWM2OTJjZDcwM2NhMjk4YzExNWQxNWI5ODc=
Frum is correct in the sense that there is some unfairness that Radler goes free and Black rots (and writes) in jail. But life is funny that way.
It may be “outrageous.” We agree that may be so – Six years in the clink is a long time for an older man who didn’t kill.
But right around the time Black went to jail – we recall reading someone get ten years for stealing food for his family because he had priors.
Tbilisi says
Exactly right. The paradox – or more precisely ‘lie’ – underpinning the Obama campaign has always been that people actually do NOT want change.
Most people want to party like it’s 1999, and keep things as they have been for the last 15-20 years: a wealthy, consumptive, and all-powerful America. The change people want is not just the end to an already self-imploded Movement, but more importantly a new way to avoid the conclusion that much of this wealth was fictional, the consumption unsatisfying, and the power declining.
Even McCain would have provided the former, but Obama’s Change/Hope/Belief project was a brilliant ploy to provide the latter. And Obama was always pretty clear about his true intentions, just as Bush was with the Movement.
Bottom line, someone needs to tell those ‘betrayed’ by Obama to put a quarter in their ass, because they played themselves.